Poultry car



Jan. 28, 1930. I 1. v. EDGERTON 1,744,873

POULTRY CAR Filed 'May 19. 1927- 2 Sheets-Shee t 1 lgo'iheb Jan. 28, 1930. l. v. EDGERTON POULTRY CAR Filed May 19. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 28, 1930 UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISRAEL v. EnGER'roN, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIS, 'AsSIGNoR T rA AcE POULTRY GAR 1 COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIs, A CORPORATION or ILLINoIS POULTRY CAR Application filed" May 19,

This invention relates to that class of poultry cars, trucks or the like more, especially designed forthe transportation of'live poul-.

try, an example of this type of'poultry car 5 beingshown in Letters Patent No. 1,512,215 granted to me October 21, 1924. My present invention is in the nature of an improvement upon a car of this type disclosed in my later tical plates, each pair of which extends downwardly to the level of the floor of the coop and is provided with horizontal extensions merging with the floors of opposite coops to prevent the fo-wls from gettingbeneath the trough supporting plates, as well as to prevent dirt from the floor of each coop spilling over into the underlying troughs. The floor of the car itself provides the floor of the lowermost coop of eachseries, and where, as heretofore,

' the supporting plates for the lowermost troughhave extended to the floor of the car,

this construction has resulted in a narrow channel at the bottom of the narrow trough compartment which rapidly becomes clogged with dirt and waste feed, and is diflicult to clean out. The object of my present invention is to provide a construction which will facilitate the cleaning of the floor of the I trough chamber.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation (looking from the longitudinal aisle outwardly) showing the lower portions of two adjacent tiers of coops and the intermediate trough chamber and troughs;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one tier of coops, partly broken out in section, on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

. In the drawings, 10 designates the floor of the car and 11 gratings or screens on one of in bearings 17 attached to thelposts 12 and 1927. Serial Nb. 192,610.

the outer side walls thereof. At the inner or I aisle ends of the coops are disposed vertical posts 12 that extend from the floor to the roof of-the car, these posts preferably being of angle bars. The two posts forming the 1 front corners of a tier of coops are connected together by angle bars 13 that support the floors 14 of all except the lowermost coops, the floors of the latter being constituted by the floor 10 of the car. Similarfvertical posts 15 are arranged at the outer or rear ends ofv the coops, these posts likewise extending from the floor tothe roof of the car. Y 1

The corner'posts 12 and 15 ofadjacent tiers of coops are separated by a narrow space'C which-constitutes a troughor feed chamber for the poultry stock, and the aisle ends of the coops are closed by hinged gates D formed. with'pintles 16 attheir lower ends engaged each'having a latch bar 18 that can be lifted to engage at its projecting ends with catches 19 also mounted on the posts 12. a

- To the inner faces ofthe posts .12 and 15 areattached' brackets 20 and 21v respectively by means of through bolts 22 passed through I the parallel limbs of said posts, and to the inner opposed faces of the'brackets 20 and 2-1- are attached a pair of thin fiat plates 23 spaced at intervals by inverted U-shaped spacers 2 4. As shown in Fig. 1, the upper" marginal portions of the plates 23 are flared outwardly and their edges curled, as shownat 23 to form supports on which the feed troughs 25'are slidably'mounted so as to be withdrawable en'dwise from the trough chamber G. It will be observed that the plates- 23, in the case of all except the lowermost pair; ofplates, have at their lower ends outwardly' extending horizontal flanges 23 that register with the coop'floors 14 so as to prevent dirt on thelatter, as well ass'mall chickens, from getting into the trough compart mentC.

Describing the side walls ofthe coops,.in 95 the trough compartment C and" extending from end to end thereof are arranged upper and lower longitudinal bars or rods 26 and 27 L 'Ih e u per rods 26 are supported at their ends by t e lower downwar 1y offset end we lies the lower rod 27. The ends of the rod 27, as shown in Fig. 1, underlie the upper vertically offset ends of the brackets 20. The folded metal strip 30 is of a height approximately equal to the hei ht ofthe trough 25 and lies opposite the sidlz of the latter, while the spaced rods or wires 29 thereabove afford am le openings through which the poultry can eed from the trough.

Since the floors 1 of all the coops above 29 the lowermost coo do not extend across the trough chamber all waste feed and dirt consequent upon dumping the troughs in the trough com artment drops onto the portion of the car oor 10 that forms the bottom of g the trough compartment. Heretofore the trough supporting plates 23 pertaining to the lowermost or bottom coops have extended to the floor of the car, thus forming a narrow longitudinal channel or pit with closed sides 39 for the accumulation of dirt and wastefeed,

which has proved diflicult to clean out and thus unsanitary. V

Bti reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that in e present construction, the lowermost brackets and trough supporting plates 23 mounted thereon terminate at a distance above the floor 10 of the car, thereby leaving longitudinal s aces or openings 32 between the lower e ges of the plates 23 and the floor of the car, through which spaces access can readily be had b a suitable scraper or other tool to readily c can out the bottom of the trough compartment, or to flush the same with a hose so as to scour the entire floor of the car. This improved structural feature constitutes a substantial improvement from a sanitary viewpoint, making it possi le to thoroughly clean the floor of the car in an expeditious manner, whereas heretofore it has proved a matter of much difficulty to clean the bottom of the trough compartment.

I have also herein shown another feature of improvement, which consists in a readily detachable means for restricting the feeding space of the coop partition or wall represented by the rods 29, attached to and extending downwardly from the brackets 20 and 21 are metal strips 33 and 34 that terminate in oppositely facing inwardly extending hooks or sockets 35 and 36 respectively. In each pair of sockets 35, 36 is ada, ted to be supported a thin wooden slat 37, t is latter lying crosswise of the rods 29 and being held snugly 16 against the latter by its inherent elasticity or spring, due to the fact that the hooks or seats 35 and 36 for the ends of the slat are outward ly offset slightly relatively to the vertical planes of the rods 29. Where a poultry shipment comprises only full-sized fowls, the guards 37 are unnecessary and can readily be removed and stored in any convenient place in the car. When the poultry shipment comprises small fowls or large and small fowls mixed, by inserting the slat uards 87 as shown, all danger of the small fowls forcing themselves through the feed slots into the feed troughs is prevented. This improvement thus adapts the described coop structure to serve equally well for the shipment of both large and small sized poultry.

I claim- In 9. Poultry car, the combination with adjacent vertical tiers of coops, and a relatively narrow trough compartment between said tiers, of trough supports between opposed coops respectively, each comprising a pair of spaced vertical plates adapted to support a trough on their upper edges, the lates of the trough supports pertaining to a8 except the lowermost coops being formed with lateral extensions meeting the floors of said coops, and the plates forming the trough support of the lowermost or floor coops terminating above the floor of the car, thereby rovidin lateral openings at the bottom of t e trough compartment to afford access for cleaning out the latter. 7

ISRAEL V. EDGERTON. 

